Won't Contest Polls If NC Gets INDIA Bloc's Commitment: Sajad Lone

Srinagar: Challenging the abrogation of Article 370 in the Supreme Court might have been a mistake but not doing so would have made things worse politically for the mainstream parties of Jammu and Kashmir, Peoples Conference chief Sajad Lone has said.

The apex court in December last year upheld the Centre’s August 5, 2019 decision to abrogate Article 370, which bestowed a special status on the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

In an interview with PTI, Lone said the Centre could have propped up anyone to take the case to the apex court had the mainstream parties stayed away from taking legal recourse.

“I do not know, it could be,” Lone told PTI when asked whether approaching the court was a mistake as the verdict has left almost no chance of getting the special status back.

“You see we (mainstream political parties in Kashmir) could have worked together and said let us save it for a rainy day. But, that could not have stopped somebody else from going to the Supreme Court,” he added.

Lone said the Centre could have propped anyone to take the case to the court and had the mainstream parties in Jammu and Kashmir stayed away from taking legal recourse, it would have made things worse politically for them.

“Say tomorrow, they select someone to go to the court… getting a court judgement is not that difficult. Our staying away would have made things worse politically for us at home.

“But, saying that there could not have been a judgement had we not gone to the court is not true either, they (Delhi) could ask a person to go to the court,” he said.

Hearing a batch of petitions filed by several political parties in Jammu and Kashmir, including the Peoples Conference, National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party, the top court held that Article 370 was a temporary provision putting a